A triangular one day series involving England, Australia and New
Zealand starts Friday with a match between England and Australia at the
Melbourne Cricket Ground. The one-dayer comes a week after Australia
whitewashed England 5-0 in the Ashes Test series. But England could
still be dangerous despite the thrashing, Fleming said Monday.
"It's just how they start and what sort of confidence they get," he
told journalists. "They get their skipper back who'll make a pretty big
difference and they've got players, the Pietersens and the Flintoffs,
who can certainly turn a one-day game on their own."
Stand-in skipper Andrew Flintoff was criticised during the Ashes series
for his defensive tactics. Commentators felt he had too much on his
plate, given his vital bowling and batting roles.
Vaughan is returning after a long lay-off with a knee injury. He has
been recuperating from a series of operations and has not played for
England since December 2005.
Fleming said the series will be ideal preparation for New Zealand
before the World Cup starting in March.
"Beating Australia in its own back yard is very tough," Fleming said.
But he added they were not invincible despite being the world's top
side in both one-day and Test cricket.
Andrew Symonds and Brad Hogg do an adequate job but Australia lacks a
world class spinner in the one-day side, he said.
With Shane Watson out, they are also short of all-rounders, he added.
"But it's pretty well rounded and it's a side that's performed under
pressure, so there's not too many chinks in their armour," Felming
said.
New Zealand have their own problems going into the series, particularly
their poorly performing batting lineup. They were skittled for just 73
by Sri Lanka in their one-day encounter on Saturday - their second
lowest one day total ever. The 179-run loss was the worst margin ever
for the New Zealanders.